First elected: 7th May 2015
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
Raise the income tax personal allowance from £12,570 to £20,000
Sign this petition Gov Responded - 20 Feb 2025 Debated on - 12 May 2025 View Wendy Morton's petition debate contributionsRaise the income tax personal allowance from £12570 to £20000. We think this would help low earners to get off benefits and allow pensioners a decent income.
Call a General Election
Gov Responded - 6 Dec 2024 Debated on - 6 Jan 2025 View Wendy Morton's petition debate contributionsI would like there to be another General Election.
I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election.
These initiatives were driven by Wendy Morton, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Wendy Morton has not been granted any Urgent Questions
A Bill to extend public access to certain local audit documents under section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 27th April 2017 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to make provision for, and in connection with, the removal of the Secretary of State’s powers under the National Health Service Act 2006 to appoint trustees; to make provision transferring to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity the right to a royalty conferred by Schedule 6 to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; and for connected purposes.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 23rd March 2016 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to provide that Crown tenancies may be assured tenancies for the purposes of the Housing Act 1988, subject to certain exceptions; to modify the assured tenancies regime in relation to certain Crown tenancies; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to regulate works on certain highways in England by making provision about weekend and bank holiday working and provision about removal of traffic lights and other traffic management measures after the completion of works.
A Bill to place a duty on local highways agencies and local transport authorities to make provisions safeguarding wildlife on roads passing through, or adjacent to, specified protected areas; and for connected purposes.
Interpersonal Abuse and Violence Against Men and Boys (Strategy) Bill 2024-26
Sponsor - Ben Obese-Jecty (Con)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 1st April is attached.
The High Growth Accelerator is a great example of locally led business growth delivered by the West Midlands Combined Authority through Business Growth West Midlands.
Last year’s pilot saw fifty SMEs on track to boost investment and turnover by £20m with the West Midlands. The High Growth Accelerator continues into its second year, and the Department will be working closely with the Combined Authority to support its outcomes.
DBT will be launching its New Business Growth Service which will make it easier and quicker for SMEs to find government advice and support and will be an integral part of the SME Strategy that will be published in 2025.
The High Growth Accelerator is a great example of locally led business growth delivered by the West Midlands Combined Authority through Business Growth West Midlands.
Last year’s pilot saw fifty SMEs on track to boost investment and turnover by £20m with the West Midlands. The High Growth Accelerator continues into its second year, and the Department will be working closely with the Combined Authority to support its outcomes.
DBT will be launching its New Business Growth Service which will make it easier and quicker for SMEs to find government advice and support and will be an integral part of the SME Strategy that will be published in 2025.
The High Growth Accelerator is a great example of locally led business growth delivered by the West Midlands Combined Authority through Business Growth West Midlands.
Last year’s pilot saw fifty SMEs on track to boost investment and turnover by £20m with the West Midlands. The High Growth Accelerator continues into its second year, and the Department will be working closely with the Combined Authority to support its outcomes.
DBT will be launching its New Business Growth Service which will make it easier and quicker for SMEs to find government advice and support and will be an integral part of the SME Strategy that will be published in 2025.
The Department for Business and Trade has published a set of Impact Assessments that provide a comprehensive analysis on the potential impact of the Employment Rights Bill. This analysis includes con-sideration of impacts on businesses and economic growth and concludes the package could have “a positive but small direct impact on economic growth” and will “help to raise living standards across the country and create opportunities for all.”
This represents the best estimate for the likely impacts given the current stage of policy development. We plan to refine our analysis as policy development continues, working closely with external experts, businesses and trade unions.
The Secretary of State, responsible Ministers and policy officials meet regularly with their counterparts in HM Treasury. This includes on discussions related to delivering the biggest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation through the Employment Rights Bill. Our analysis shows the package could have “a positive but small direct impact on economic growth” and will “help to raise living standards across the country and create opportunities for all.”
This represents the best estimate for the likely impacts given the current stage of policy development. We plan to refine our analysis as policy development continues, working closely with external experts, businesses and trade unions.
My department, with officials from FCDO, directly supported a number of Combined Authority leaders on this visit to China, which included the Mayor of the West Midlands. The programme focused on strengthening growth across regions to enhance investment and diplomatic relationships. Economic growth and investment remain a fundamental priority for this Government, and we will continue to support regional mayors and our nations to forge global relationships with investors and businesses to promote the UKs investment credentials.
On Tuesday 18 March, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and the Special Envoy to the UK Mark Burnett in Washington DC. The meeting followed last month’s agreement between the Prime Minister and President Trump that teams would start working together on an Economic Prosperity Deal, building on our shared strengths and commitment to economic security. Ministers and officials will be continuing discussions moving forward.
This government is committed to creating a fairer business rates system for small businesses on the high street. From 2026-27, we will introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values of less than £500,000.
We recognise that businesses will need support during this period of transition. RHL relief will be extended for one year at 40% and the small business multiplier will be frozen for one year. This package is worth over £1.5 billion in 2025-26 and is aimed at supporting the most vulnerable businesses.
Our new Business Growth Service will make it easier for businesses across the UK to get the help, support and advice they need. It will bring together existing offers including Business Support Service and the network of local Growth Hubs across England. Our forthcoming Small Business Strategy will set out how we intend to further support small businesses on the high street and beyond.
In their meeting on 27 February, the Prime Minister and President spoke about the fair, balanced and reciprocal economic relationship that the UK and the US enjoy. They agreed to deepen this relationship, and tasked their teams to work together on an economic deal focused on tech. We are in regular discussions with our US counterparts, and we will set out more details as conversations evolve.
The UK is exploring various avenues to strengthen UK-U.S. trade ties and support economic growth, in tandem with development of the Industrial and Trade Strategies. The UK continues to deliver against commitments in signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with individual U.S. states, to help UK businesses deepen their commercial links and facilitate trade.
The UK most recently signed an MoU concerning co-operation on economic relations, trade and investment with the State of Colorado on 27 January 2025
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) does not collect local-level data specifically on pensioners in fuel poverty. The latest estimate of the fuel poverty rate in the Aldridge-Brownhills constituency, based on the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) metric, was 13.2% of households in 2023 (Table 3 of the sub-regional fuel poverty statistics).
Statistics on fuel poverty in England in 2024 by age of the oldest person in the household can be found in Table 23 of the fuel poverty detailed tables.
The latest official Fuel Poverty Statistics for England were published in March 2025 on gov.uk here: Fuel poverty statistics - GOV.UK.
The Government knows that more needs to be done to support vulnerable households that are struggling with bills whilst we transition to clean power.
The Government’s Warm Home Discount (WHD) scheme provides targeted support to eligible low-income households across Great Britain with a £150 rebate off their winter energy bill. The scheme provides rebates to pensioners in receipt of Pension Credit Guarantee Credit, the vast majority of whom receive the rebate automatically. In February, we published a consultation on the expansion of the Warm Home Discount, giving more eligible households £150 off their energy bills. These proposals would bring around 2.7 million households into the scheme – pushing the total number of households that would receive the discount next winter up to around 6 million. This would see an increase in those in receipt of the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit receiving a discount next winter.
I have been clear with suppliers that they should do all that they can to support their customers – including vulnerable consumers – who may be struggling with their bills.
Building on the work I did with energy suppliers to agree the £500 million Winter Commitment to help customers last winter, I am now also leading a working group with Energy UK and other stakeholders to consider how we can take further sustained action on improving affordability and accessibility of energy.
We were delighted to extend the Innovation Accelerator pilot into 2025/26, investing an extra £30 million in growing high-potential clusters in the West Midlands, Glasgow City Region and Greater Manchester.
The West Midlands Innovation Accelerators is supporting a range of projects focused on business innovation. For example, Midlands Health Tech Innovation Accelerator is helping companies navigate “pinch-points” in the medical translation process, and Clean Futures is supporting SMEs to develop, demonstrate and grow clean-tech solutions in partnership with the wider ecosystem.
Innovate UK will continue to work collaboratively with each regional partnership to maximise the impact on their regions.
No, because it is obvious that it would be better for all if the strikes were to end.
Under the terms of the fourth licence, the National Lottery operator, Allwyn, is required to make a £1.6million annual contribution to socially responsible purposes such as research and treatment.
Society lotteries will be charged the levy at the lowest rate of 0.1%, in recognition of the comparatively low rates of harm associated with participation in society lotteries and the important benefits they bring to good cause fundraising.
DCMS Ministers received advice on changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, including consideration of the potential impacts of various options to scale the scheme.
The changes announced were necessary given the tight fiscal challenges we inherited from the previous government and considering competing financial demands in other parts of the heritage and cultural sector.Will continue the widest distribution of the scheme’s benefits within the available means. Based on previous scheme data, we expect 94% of claims to be unaffected by this change.
The transparency and accountability of society lottery operators is a matter for the Gambling Commission through its Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).
The Minister for Gambling has no current plans to take action in this area.
Society lotteries are a vital fundraising tool for many charities, community groups, sports clubs and other non-commercial organisations.
We are carefully considering calls to increase or remove limits on ticket sales, alongside the results of independent research into the lotteries sector.
We will provide an update on our policy position before the Summer Recess.
The Department is still considering the findings of the independent research, which looked at the size and nature of the prize draw market, as well as possible gambling harm associated with these products. This research is informing our policy considerations, as whilst not regulated as a gambling product under the Gambling Act, we want people who participate in large scale commercial prize draws to be confident that proportionate protections are in place. We will update Parliament further in due course.
Society lotteries are a vital fundraising tool for many charities, community groups, sports clubs and other non-commercial organisations.
The Government is committed to reviewing the best available evidence from a wide range of sources and working with all stakeholders in order to support the industry and ensure there are robust protections in place to protect those at risk.
We will provide further updates to the House soon.
I refer the hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills to the answer of 19 March 2025 to Question 37179.
I refer the hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills to the answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 40142.
The number of apprenticeship starts in the Aldridge-Brownhills constituency are published in the apprenticeships accredited official statistics publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/2d7a8365-ec14-40eb-96d3-08dd85738b16.
These were last published in March 2025. They include full year figures for the 2023/24 academic year, and year to date figures for the 2024/25 academic year.
This government has committed to widening the apprenticeships offer into a growth and skills offer, which will offer greater flexibility to employers and learners and align with the industrial strategy.
As a first step, this will include shorter duration apprenticeships and new foundation apprenticeships for young people. These will help more people learn high-quality skills at work, give more young people a foot in the door at the start of their working lives, and support the pipeline of new talent that employers will need to drive economic growth.
Construction will be one of the key sectors that will benefit from foundation apprenticeships from August 2025, backed by an additional £40 million, and shorter duration apprenticeships will also be possible from August 2025.
The government recognises the importance of ensuring the growth and skills offer supports small and medium-sized employers (SMEs) to access apprenticeships. Development of the offer will be informed by the results of Skills England’s analysis and engagement, including on where flexibilities will be most helpful for employers, including SMEs.
Since April 2024, the government pays 100% of apprentice training costs, up to the funding band maximum, for non-levy paying employers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 21, and apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an education, health and care plan or have been in local authority care.
Apprenticeship statistics, including starts by young people, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships.
These are matters for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Data on pupil numbers in the state-funded and private school sectors is collected in January and published in June each year. This shows how pupil numbers at different types of school have changed over time.
In January 2023 there were 591,954 pupils in independent schools. In January 2024, this number had increased by 1,532 to 593,486.
This data is published at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f3ef2b69-9a02-4040-1972-08dd660c60ce. Pupil numbers for January 2025 will be published in June 2025.
As set out in HM Treasury’s tax information and impact note published on GOV.UK, the introduction of VAT is anticipated to have a very limited impact on the number of pupils in state and private schools. The department has not seen any evidence that contradicts the expectations set out in the government’s impact assessment.
Ending tax breaks on private schools will help raise around £1.8 billion per year by the 2029/30 financial year for investment in public services, including state-funded education which serves 94% of children. This will help break down barriers to opportunity, ensuring every child has access to high-quality education.
Local authorities are responsible for securing school places for children in their area. Pupil numbers in schools fluctuate for a number of reasons, and the school funding system is already set up to manage that. The department provides capital funding through the basic need grant to support the provision of mainstream school places, based on local authorities’ own pupil forecasts and school capacity data.
As set out in HM Treasury’s tax information and impact note published on GOV.UK, the introduction of VAT is anticipated to have a very limited impact on the number of pupils in state and private schools. The department has not seen any evidence that contradicts the expectations set out in the government’s impact assessment.
Ending tax breaks on private schools will help raise around £1.8 billion per year by the 2029/30 financial year for investment in public services, including state-funded education which serves 94% of children. This will help break down barriers to opportunity, ensuring every child has access to high-quality education.
Local authorities are responsible for securing school places for children in their area. Pupil numbers in schools fluctuate for a number of reasons, and the school funding system is already set up to manage that. The department provides capital funding through the basic need grant to support the provision of mainstream school places, based on local authorities’ own pupil forecasts and school capacity data.
Apprenticeships can support small and medium sized employers (SMEs) to improve their skills base, boost productivity and develop a pipeline of future talent.
To support non-levy paying employers, usually SMEs, to offer apprenticeships, the government pays the full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21 years-old, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 years-old who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been in local authority care. For all other apprentices, employers who do not pay the levy are required to co-invest 5% towards apprentice training costs.
Employers of all sizes can also benefit from £1,000 payments when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18 years-old, or apprentices aged 19 to 24 years-old who have an EHC plan or have been in local authority care. This is in recognition of the additional support that younger apprentices may require when entering employment. Employers can choose how they spend these payments.
Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 where they earn less than £967 a week (£50,270 a year).
Employers that need help with employing an apprentice, including accessing funding, can access the employer support GOV.UK page, which is available here: https://help.employersupport.apprenticeships.gov.uk/hc/en-gb.
The apprenticeship ambassador network is a group of employers and former and current apprentices. Around 35%of the employers are SMEs. Their remit is to inspire greater numbers of employers and individuals to connect with apprenticeships.
Defra officials work closely with the Falkland Islands Government to ensure that Falkland Island interests are represented in international fisheries meetings at the UN and FAO, and that challenges in ensuring sustainable management of high seas fisheries in the South West Atlantic are addressed.
Defra primarily supports the UK Overseas Territories, including the Falkland Islands, to protect their unique biodiversity and natural environments through the Darwin Plus programme. In the past 5 years, Darwin Plus has awarded funding to 28 projects of benefit to the Falkland Islands worth over £4 million, including 8 worth over £2 million dedicated to marine conservation.
Projects have been working to:
This Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of publishing a local authority league table for incidences of fly-tipping.
Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents and actions to Defra, which are published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england. In assessing the figures local authorities should not be classified as ‘good’ or ‘poor’ performers based purely on numbers of fly-tips and comparisons between local authorities should be made with care.
This Government recently announced plans to move the regulation of waste carriers, brokers and dealers from a light-touch registration system into environmental permitting. This will mean that people who transport or control more than a certain volume of construction or demolition waste, which is produced by themselves in the course of their business, will be required to apply for the relevant standard rules permit. The reform will enhance the resources and capabilities available to the Environment Agency to take regulatory action and make it harder for rogue operators to escape detection.
Local authorities also have enforcement powers to help tackle fly-tipping. We are taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance for local authorities and have also announced a review of their powers to seize and crush vehicles of suspected fly-tippers to identify how we could help them make better use of this tool.
We committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up their mess and will provide further details on this commitment in due course.
Defra chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with local authorities, the Environment Agency and others to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group#.
We will provide further details about the reformed Sustainable Farming Incentive in summer 2025.
We will provide further details about the reformed Sustainable Farming Incentive in summer 2025.
We have committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess they have created. This will build on the sanctions already available which include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles and prosecution which can lead to a significant fine, a community sentence or even imprisonment. There are no plans to increase the fixed penalty levels at this time.
The Defra chaired National Fly-tipping Prevention Group has produced a guide on how local authorities, and others, can present robust cases to court. This is available at https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group.
We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers, and we are currently seeking powers to provide statutory guidance on fly-tipping enforcement. We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush the vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.
This Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of a national debate or action plan on fly-tipping.
We are committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.
We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers, which include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing vehicles and prosecution, and we are taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support local authorities to consistently and effectively exercise these powers.
We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.
This Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a litter and fly-tipping champion in Government.
Local authorities are usually best placed to respond to litter and fly-tipping problems in a way tailored to the communities in which they occur. Local authorities already they have a range of enforcement tools at their disposal including fixed penalty notices and prosecution. We encourage and support councils to make good use of their enforcement powers, and we are currently seeking powers to provide statutory guidance on fly-tipping enforcement.
Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, local authorities and the police have powers to investigate allegations of animal cruelty or poor welfare, including powers of entry to premises such as animal shelters and rescue homes. Section 18 of the Act allows animals to be seized where necessary to prevent suffering.
This Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of a fourth round of grants. The Government is making available £69 billion to council budgets across England – a 6.8% cash terms increase, to help fund key responsibilities like tackling fly-tipping.
We will continue to work with the National Fly-tipping Prevention Group to highlight and share best practice with regards to tackling fly-tipping. Various practical tools, including case studies from previous grants, are available from their website https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group#.
The Scheme Administrator Steering Group has an independent chair, UK Government officials, local authority representation, and business and producer representatives. Please see this GOV.UK page for Scheme Administrator Steering Group membership.
Defra will be working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding. This future SFI offer will build on what has made SFI effective so far. Further details about the reformed SFI offer will be announced following the spending review in summer 2025.
Currently there are over 39, 000 live SFI agreements.
The government will work with the farming and environmental sectors to prioritise funding for future years so we can target SFI actions fairly and effectively, focusing on helping less productive land contribute to our priorities for food, farming and nature.
We will provide further details about the reformed SFI in summer 2025.
In October 2024, the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the pEPR scheme. This impact assessment included an estimate for pEPR fees per tonne of packaging material. This estimate did not split by packaging material type.
Defra officials have engaged with industry and technical experts, to ensure that the modelling of local authority costs accurately reflect the on the ground reality of waste management. This confirmed that packaging volumes, rather than weight, are accounted for when determining the costs of kerbside dry recycling collections. This is especially important for heavier materials such as glass which would see higher base fees under a weight-based apportionment of these costs. Illustrative base fees for the 8 material categories have now been published.